The UK’s advertising market as a whole will grow by 4.8 per cent to £17.7 billion by 2015, driven by digital marketing , according to a new report.
The study by accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) forecast that the entertainment and media market in the UK will grow to £59.6bn in 2015, ushered in by the “golden age for the digitally empowered consumer.
Over the next three years, digital marketing will enjoy by far the largest individual growth of 11.2%, the report found. As more companies put a greater percentage of their marketing spend into online campaigns, online media and the growth of social platforms is set to see a larger spend than ever before.
The report goes on to say that the advertising industry bounced back in 2010 from a decline a year earlier, with growth of 3.2 per cent.
It predicted the market would then grow by a 3.7 per cent compound annual rate between 2011 and 2015 on demand for “digital experiences”.
Phil Stokes, head of entertainment and media at PwC, said: “The coming five years will see digital technologies progressively increase their influence across the industry.”
”With advertising revenues returning to pre-recession levels, the advertising pound is being spent in many new and different ways. Product placement, sophisticated social media campaigns and internet advertising are all becoming part of truly multimedia campaigns for advertisers who are themselves involved in a dynamic conversation with their customers,” Stokes concluded.
The PwC study also found that the amount customers spend on media is also set to see a rise, with £9.2 billion to be spent on internet access to media channels and a further £32.7 billion spent on purchasing media and entertainment (a rise of 2.7 per cent).